Author's note Hello guys and girls I'm back once more with another chapter for the Illusionary Resistance. Again I'm sorry for the long hiatus and the wait. Also a big thank you to all of the beautiful people who have left a favorite and followed this story.
As always I have to give a big thank you to SpiderDom321, ThegameNguyener, AlexrandriaPrime, KeybladeWriter of the Dawn, YamiChaos27, bajy, Guest, and Sharp DragonKlaw for the reviews. I want to thank all of you for the support.
With that out of the way without any further delays here is chapter fourteen.
The space shuttle traveled at a steady speed through space. The mood inside the shuttle itself was jubilant. The Resistance had succeeded in rescuing Sonic. A pink cat medic had immediately started cleaning out Sonic's injuries her eyes wandering over the deep wounds marveling that it was a miracle that some of them hadn't become infected.
Somehow there as a shower on board the space shuttle as the prisoners had taken turns. Sonic had taken a long shower washing off the dirt in his fur. Tails lay on a small makeshift bed with his wounds having been cleaned out and stitched up. A blood bag was attached to Tails' wrist. One of the prisoners had willingly donated blood to the fox who was still a bit weak from a loss of blood due to Zavok's attack. Fresh, clean bandages had were wrapped around his abdomen. Sonic stayed by his side all throughout the process.
"Oh, man Tails I'm so sorry that this happened to you," Sonic said. "Don't worry I know that you'll be back to inventing things soon."
"Yeah, I will. It was stupid of me to fight Zavok wasn't it?"
The kit's question caught Sonic by surprise. He reached out for Tail's hand giving it a gentle squeeze.
"No, it wasn't. Tails if you didn't step in when you did I would have been a roasted hedgehog on a stick."
"I know, and you're my best friend," Tails whispered tiredly. I'm sorry that I was unable to do a thing to stop Eggman from taking you."
"It's in the past," Sonic reassured Tails. "You guys saved me, and we have to find a way to defeat Eggman and win our home back."
Tails smiled tiredly before his eyes closed slipping into a light slumber. Sonic gave his adoptive brother a light pat on the shoulder tucking him into the bed.
For the first time in months, Sonic enjoyed a good meal of a single chilidog. The hedgehog would cast an anxious look over at the small bed where Tails lay in it. Sonic sat up facing the monitor waiting for Knuckles to come through. Shadow and Rouge were off to the side having a conversation with each other as the loud static crackled through as Knuckles' face finally appeared on the monitor.
There was happiness that Sonic had been found alive, but it was mixed with shock and despair seeing the state that Sonic was in before he composed himself.
"Sonic," Knuckles said his voice cracking with emotion. "Finding you alive is the hope we need right now. What the hell did that fat bastard do to you?"
"Many things I don't want to go over Knucklehead," Sonic replied his quills wearily drooping ever so slightly."Is everyone else alive and safe?"
"They are," Came the guardians' response. "You know both Tails and Amy never gave up hope that you were still alive."
Sonic weakly smiled. His friends were safe. The tense knot of fear and dread which formed in his stomach over the last six months finally began to fade away upon hearing the news that his friends were safe. Sonic sighed the next question lingering in his mind, and that was the state that of Mobius. The hedgehog recalled with a shudder the footage Eggman'd shown him of his forces wreaking havoc on the planet not too long after his capture.
"So just how much of Mobius did Eggy take over?"
"Sonic what I'm about to say next is to prepare you," Knuckles breathed in deeply before continuing with his sentence."Things are pretty bad down here. Eggman's army's pretty much conquered almost all of Mobius. GUN lost half of its forces in the first three months of Eggman's takeover."
"We can't just throw in the towel!" Sonic snapped. He shakily stood up ignoring the medic's protest for him to stay down. "If we surrender then, Eggman's truly won, and we will find a way to reclaim our home back."
"You're right," Knuckles replied calmly. "I do have a plan that we can execute once you've had time to recover. We can't wait to have you back. This news is going to give hope back to the people that need it the most right now."
"Yeah, I'll see you soon Knux. I could go for a nap right now," Sonic stifled the yawn. Knuckles saw the bags that were beginning to form under his eyes from a lack of sleep. With the bandages covering parts of Sonic's body, there was a haunted expression in Sonic's eyes indicating that he'd gone through unspeakable horrors. The ribs that were showing through the hedgehog's too thin chest and he just wanted to take a long nap after being tortured for who knew how long.
"Sonic the Hedgehog," Gadget said. "It's such an honor to meet you."
"Oh hey, you're that wolf," Sonic said wearily. "I didn't get a chance to ask your name back on the Death Egg."
"It's Gadget. I'm just glad that you're okay," Gadget looked over at the sleeping kit. "I used to have a best friend called Zerinn." The wolf sighed sadly."We stopped being friends a few years ago and, I just recently learned he died."
Sonic saw the small tears leaking out from the corner of Gadget's eyes. Sonic gently reached forward placing a gentle hand on the wolf's shoulder in sympathy.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Sonic said quietly. "Even if the two of you weren't friends, I'm sure he would want you to keep going and live your life no matter what happens in the future."
"Gadget!"
At that moment as Gadget looked around, he saw a flash of deep grey fur through the small crowd of prisoners, and his heart stopped. Sucking in a breath Gadget heard a familiar voice muttering excuse me before he came to a stop his turquoise eyes filled with shock at the sight of the red wolf.
"Mikhail?"
All it took was one word for the two half-brothers to come running towards each other on the space shuttle both of them embraced warmly. Their tails were wagging in happiness. Gadget couldn't help it the tears slipped down his face hugging his only surviving family member close to him. Mikhail was alive. He wasn't dead after all. Gadget rested his head on his family member's chest listening to his heartbeat.
"How did you survive? I saw Eggman's robots grab you. I thought that you were dead for the last three months." Gadget sobbed softly.
"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner. I joined up with the Resistance in secret, and I volunteered to spy on Eggman. My Codename was Balti." Mikhail explained. The two brothers broke apart with smiles on their muzzles at the relief that they were okay and the important thing was that they were together again. Sonic, Tails, and Rouge looked on the scene with smiles.
Shadow heard a low cough. He turned on his heel to face Kaito. The young jackal's tail swished back and forth in irritation. The silence between them was tense. The jackal clasped the handle of his flamberge.
"Tell me. How did my brother die by your hand?"
"The rest of your squad just simply couldn't stand up to my strength," Shadow stated calmly. The jackal made eye contact with him ."I have a terrible memory, but I know that you were there."
"You killed my half-brother along with the rest of our squad," Kaito growled."Half of our family is dead because of you."
Shadow silently glared at the jackal. He heard the pain and sorrow in his voice. Gadget broke away from Mikhail walking over to him with his eyes narrowed his lips slightly curling back from his mouth exposing his fangs. his fingers reaching down for a small photograph showing it to Shadow. The Ultimate Lifeform carefully took the photo looking over at the young jackal and red wolf that were grinning at the camera.
It was unmistakably Infinite grinning up at him with his arm slung around a red wolf who was also grinning. The two of them looked so carefree and innocent without a care in the world.
That's Infinite when he was a kid. It's hard to imagine him as a monster. Shadow thought to maintain a blank expression on his face.
"If what you say is true, then when this war is over I will respectfully build a monument to them," Shadow said calmly returning the photograph to Gadget. "And if there are members of your squad that are still alive somewhere in the world I promise to find them."
Kaito clenched the handle of flamberge his knuckles turning white underneath the gloves. He was uncertain. This monster was willing to help him after he'd brutally killed several members of his squad that were like family.
"I'm not sure that we can trust, you, but thank you Shadow." Gadget spoke for the jackal who turned on his heel the wolf, and the jackal walked away keeping their heads close together murmuring to themselves about a conversation that Shadow couldn't hear.
Shadow in his mind that had a feeling that Infinite was Zerinn. There was a possibility if the deranged jackal was the friend and family member that Gadget and Kaito were looking for, the chances were that the reunion between them wouldn't be a happy one.
The rest of the journey was uneventful as Sonic and Tails slumbered for the rest of the space shuttle's travel path. The only time that Sonic was startled awake was when the Space shuttle landed just outside of Spaceport where the tired hedgehog was led over to a small vehicle with several GUN vehicle parked not too far away from it. The few remaining GUN troops were stunned at the sight of Sonic's condition.
"So then you'll have to see just how bad it is Sonic," Rouge said. "After your defeat, this spaceport was one of the very first things that he took over."
The rest of the Resistance entered the large GUN jeep with Sonic casting a wary look around the vehicle shuddering. He didn't exactly have fond memories of the last time he was in a GUN vehicle due to being mistaken for Shadow. He looked out at the landscape before him with Tails sitting next to him. The once green fields of Mobius were mostly now stripped away of vegetation and life.
The skies itself was a dark grey matching the planet's mood of despair and hopelessness.
The low peals of thunder could be echoed off in the distance. The jeep sped through the vast, bleak landscape. Sonic looked out of the window his breath hitched in his throat at the sight of a cloud of thick black smoke rising from a small town that was still ablaze with shadows of giant mechs stomping about the burning city. Coupled with the distant far away screams of the citizens who weren't fortunate enough to escape. Sonic gritted his teeth getting up racing to the front of the vehicle one of his fingers wrapping around the gear shift pulling it into the brake position causing the jeep to jolt to a stop jostling everyone inside of it.
"Stop the vehicle! We need to help those civilians!"
"I can't Sonic. We were under orders to take you straight back to the Resistance base in Sunset Heights."
Sonic ran towards one of the doors of the jeep leaping out of the vehicle breaking into a supersonic run. Despite his malnourished condition the fire that raged on the inside of Sonic forced himself into a full out run his teeth gritted in pure anger. He was aware of a black and red blue racing right behind him. A few moments later a heavyweight tackled into his midsection knocking Sonic off his feet.
The force of the impact of Sonic colliding with the ground at the speed he was traveling hurt like crazy. He felt the skin tear open along one of his wounds. He opened his eyes to see Shadow glaring down at him lying across his midsection his face emotionless handling the fiercely struggling hedgehog underneath him trying to get up.
"Damn it Shadow! Let go of me! There's still time for us to save that town!"
"Don't be an idiot Sonic." Shadow snarled not moving from his position of holding Sonic's arms at his side ignoring the hedgehog's desperate struggles to get back up to his feet. Sonic gritted his teeth still yanking his arms free attempting to pull himself along the ground feeling the weight of the Ultimate Lifeform pinning him down with the exhaustion catching up to him.
Shadow reached down with one hand yanking hard on Sonic's blue quills. Sonic winced feeling the Ultimate Lifeform glaring down at him. Shadow wanted to shake his head at Sonic's recklessness. Even after going through six months of torture it would be just like Sonic to risk his life to protect people.
"Tails risked his life for you," Shadow said with a quiet menace. "No this plan to save you involved members of the Resistance risking their lives for you and you're just going to throw it all away so that the Doctor can kill you for real?"
At Shadow's words, Sonic felt a stab of shame enter his heart, and he let out a sigh. He was just too tired to struggle any more. He closed his eyes letting out a small sigh of pain his head rested against the dusty ground his sides rose and fell dimly aware of the fatigue catching up to him. He lifted up his head taking in the sight of the burning town the screams of dying citizens that would haunt him forever to his grave.
"You're right Shad," Sonic let out a low sigh. "I can't do that to Tails and everyone."
"We'll find a way to stop Eggman, but you need time to rest and recover."
Shadow stood up on his feet pulling Sonic up along with him. The two hedgehogs watched the blazing town aware that they were unable to do anything at all to prevent the town's destruction. The GUN soldiers pulled up in a car allowing Sonic and Shadow to climb into it. The vehicle sped back to the waiting jeep. Sonic turned his head towards the burning town the thick black clouds of smoke rising off into the sky.
One day we're going to make Eggman regret that he's ruined this many lives along with Infinite. We are going to win this war no matter what. Sonic silently vowed to himself clenching his trembling fist ever so slightly.
The long ride back to Sunset Heights was in a tense silence. No one said anything else until the vehicle arrived in Sunset Heights. Sonic looked up hearing Tails stir ever so slightly tap Sonic lightly on the shoulder causing Sonic to look out the window to be greeted by the sight of Knuckles, Amy, Omega, the Chaotix, Chaser, Sahara and Silver standing in front of the Resistance base.
"Welcome back Sonic!" Amy broke into a run. Before anyone could react, she'd drawn Sonic into a tight embrace causing him to wince in pain. "You're alive, and I knew that you would still be."
Sonic winced. "Agh Amy, that's great can you please let go?"
For once Amy complied as Sonic was swept up by the many members of the Resistance who were marveling his return. Some of them reached out to touch his fur wondering if he was indeed back. The small bursts of hope erupted within the hearts of the Resistance with Sonic's arrival. Gadget gently carried Tails falling into step behind Sahara and her medical team as Tails' injuries needed to tended along with most of the prisoners that had been on board the Death Egg.
"Ah yeah Sonic's back! You missed it; I stung Infinite in the butt for you! Also, it was satisfying too!" Charmy exclaimed.
"Oh man, I would've loved to have seen that," Sonic chuckled. "How loudly did he yelp?"
"It was loud," Vector said with a toothy grin a gleeful expression on his face. "Charmy must've stung him extra hard for you," Vector said. "That masked prick had it coming."
The rest of the Resistance parted to let Sonic through to the infirmary as a flash of white fur caught Sonic's' eye. He looked up to see a white hedgehog making his way through the crowd. The hedgehog was different from any other hedgehog that Sonic had ever seen before. A pair of large white quills hung down from the back of his head, and he came running over to Sonic a small smile was on his face.
"You're alive. I'm Silver the Hedgehog. The famous Sonic the Hedgehog," Silver breathed out. "I come from two hundred years in the future, and I came back because an ancient document in my time foretold of a great disaster that would befall your time."
"Huh, so I guess that I'm that famous already and it's nice to meet you, Silver," Sonic said reaching out to shake Silver's hand.
It was the same white hedgehog whom he'd seen lying bleeding in his visions on the broken ground of the induced hallucinations brought on by that mysterious gem. However, there were no wounds on the ivory fur, and his yellow eyes were shining with hope upon seeing Sonic.
"There is, and we can discuss it inside." The crowd parted allowing Knuckles to step out from the group. Sonic noticed that there was something different about the guardian about the Master Emerald. He seemed more confident of himself, in a position as the leader of the Resistance.
"I never thought that I would see you in the leadership Role Knux."
"Knuckles simply let out a low sigh. "Believe me if it weren't for this whole mess I'd rather be back on Angel Island doing my duty." Knuckles turned to look at Sonic with concern.
"We've got a makeshift bed for you," Knuckles began to lead the way into the Resistance base with Sonic in tow."You need time to rest, and then we can begin to take back Mobius for real."
Sonic simply nodded yawning ever so slightly betraying just how tired he was. A pair of Resistance soldiers helped him walk into the Resistance Base, followed by the large group of Mobians followed Knuckles inside the base feeling even more hopeful than they ever had since the war had started.
Meanwhile not too far away from the base several golden flowers began to peek out from the soil underneath a tree that wasn't too far from the Resistance base. The blooming of these flowers was evident. With Sonic finally back amongst the Resistance hope had finally returned to Mobius.
Author's note Well there you have it. Sonic is back amongst his friends and the real fight to reclaim Mobius can finally begin. If you go to my profile page, I will have set up a poll asking who do you want to see as the penultimate obstacle that stands in the way of the Resistance reclaiming all of Mobius from the Eggman Empire's grasp.
In this chapter, the final OC for this story is revealed at last after the long wait since his debut in the picture frame chapter 9. Mikhail is Gadget's older half-brother by two years, and he is just as loyal and kind. Balti was the codename given to him when he first joined the resistance, and he is going to have a role to play along with Chaser and Sahara.
The events Wolf and the Jackal do tie into this story since Gadget used to be friends with Infinite. It's one of the things that does diverge slightly from canon, and I won't spoil it, but these two are going to meet later on in the plot.
The most significant challenge I had with this chapter was Sonic himself. Since Sonic's personality keeps changing every game, it's hard to write Sonic and how he would cope with a severe situation like this. I do hope that it came across as in character as I made him for this type of thing.
Also, another gripe I had with the game was the subject of Sonic's "torture," and it bugged me that he was perfectly fine. In this story, I wanted to show the effects of his torture and his guilt for being unable to stop Eggman from taking over. We're going to see a bit of the impulsive side of Sonic in this story mostly due to his desire to get back at Eggman.
This chapter as you've probably noticed is a bit less intense and action-packed. It's a calm after the storm chapter. I wanted the focus to be on Sonic's arrival on Mobius and seeing how much damage Eggman's inflicted on the planet and the reunion with his friends. Gadget and Sonic finally meet for the first time and writing out their interactions were fun to write out.
That's all for now and as per usual thoughts/ suggestions and reviews are appreciated, and welcomed and I hope that you guys have a wonderful weekend and I will be back with the next chapter soon.